Legilimency Maxima
by M.J.Stratton
Summary: Hermione and Draco get paired together for a year-long project; and while they despise the other, that's not the most of their problems. Instead, Hermione is to save the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry without the help of Harry and Ron. Only one person offers their help-Draco Malfoy. Hermione spends her time fearing that Draco is wanting something other than friendship.
1. A Word From Yours Truly

**OTHER BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY**

This story is the first book in a trilogy. The others have yet to be published, but they are planned out and have titles.

 _Book I-Legilimency Maxima_

 _Book II-Avada Kedavra_

 _Book III-Vulnera Sanetur_

The names of these books are all spells which have a meaning towards the story and are somewhat explained into the first part of the summary.

 **ABOUT**

Legilimens is a spell that lets you look into others' minds and see their memories, thoughts, and feelings. This could be one way of getting to know a person. I chose this spell for the first book because this is where Hermione and Draco are really going to get to know one another.

 **SYNOPSIS**

It's fifth year at The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Every other year before this one had been awful together; fueled by an intense hatred for the other. Sure, Draco only disliked her because Hermione had been born a mud-blood and that wasn't a perfect reason; while Hermione thought Draco was an overly spoiled prat whose time had been wasted bullying everyone around him-including her.

So, what exactly are they supposed to do when Professor Snape assigns them together for a year long Potions project?

Hermione decides to just simply ignore him (other than when they need to communicate for the project) for the remainder of their year.

Draco has other plans.

Now, Hermione can't figure out why that know-it-all brat is trying so hard to befriend her. What could he possibly benefit from it? Its only up to her to decide what's going to happen next.

Although, there is something that might have Hermione actually consider befriending Draco-an imminent threat plaguing through the dorms. Usually, she could take care of it with her best friends, but Harry Potter and Ron Weasley have already decided that they are _not_ helping. With that in mind, who is she going to team up with? Who's left?

No one other than Draco Malfoy is signing up for a spot.

 **DISCLAIMER**

 _Characters, places, original book plot, etc. all belong to J. K. Rowling._

 **WARNINGS**

 _Mild Cursing_

 _Sexual References_

 _Very Slight Gore_

 _Harry Potter Spoilers_

 **PUBLISHING DATES**

 _There are going to be a total of eighteen chapters in this book. Only six chapters at a time will be published with two days in between each chapter. I will take two small breaks (after the sixth chapter; after the twelfth chapter) to catch up on writing, considering that school is a higher priority for me._

Chapter One _(Saturday - July 22, 2017)_

Chapter Two ( _Tuesday - July 25, 2017)_

Chapter Three _(Friday - July 28, 2017)_

Chapter Four _(Monday - July 31, 2017)_

Chapter Five _(Thursday - August 3, 2017)_

Chapter Six _(Sunday - August 6, 2017)_

 **STATUS**

Writing _(June 18, 2017-)_

Publishing _(July 22, 2017 - September 11, 2017)_


	2. I Prefects Carriage

The September air was still a summery warm to Hermione and only continued to get more humid as the Hogwarts Express grew in the number of passengers. Her poor hair had puffed up into frizzy curls all around her frame from the heat. The one thing Hermione could do was pat it down in an attempt to refrain it. Of course the curls didn't stay down; they never did.

She was not going to let the boiling air get to her, though. After all, her best friends Harry and Ron seemed to look quite eager as they strode through the carriage. Ron had a bright grin playing on his lips; as for Harry, he didn't look as excited, but Hermione knew how Harry felt about Hogwarts, so she assumed he was also elated.

She and the Weasleys had spent most of their time at the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix during their summer holiday. Hermione was forced to lie low and act as if she hadn't wanted to hear their private meetings. She hadn't even been able to see Harry until a few weeks ago, and spending time with the Weasleys was like staying in an orphanage with one room. She'd still have to sleep in a dorm with four other girls, but she still packed her bags as soon as her Hogwarts letter arrived.

They had all been staying at the Grimmauld Place; it was was the childhood home of Harry's god-father, Sirius Black, who spent his younger years running away from it. His parents had a special charm cast on it to keep muggles from even knowing it existed, so it was chosen as Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. The members had a Fidelious Charm place on it with the most powerful wizard of their age, Albus Dumbledore, as the secret-keeper.

Hermione caught Harry staring at her with his grassy eyes, expecting her to answer him on something she hadn't been listening to.

"Pardon?"

"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry's voice had an annoyed tone to it; then again, it had sounded like that a lot ever since he'd started puberty.

"Er," muttered Ron.

Hermione felt her heart race; she never thought about having to leave Harry all alone during their ride to Hogwarts.

"We're-well-Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage."

"Oh."

A noticeable look of brief sadness washed over her friend's face, but instantly turned into a grin-a fake one at that.

"Right. Fine," Harry continued.

Hermione and Ron spoke to Harry a bit more; Hermione was attempting to explain to Harry about why they were forced to leave him while Ron blubbered on about not even wanting to do the 'boring prefect stuff'. Harry seemed unfazed and ushered them to go on.

Hermione and Ron grasped onto their luggage and pets before walking through the carriages until they found one that had all of its seats full of Hogwarts students. Up in the front stood two seventh years. One was a dark female with black hair that curled into coils while the other had been a short and muscular boy that she'd notice play on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. A Head Boy/Girl badge were pinned to their robes.

"I think we've found it, Ron."

Hermione glanced around for empty seats, but the only two she could find were next to Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. _How in Merlin's beard did those two make prefects_ , she wondered to herself. She watched Ron make a face at Malfoy -she probably made the same expression- but Hermione wasn't going to lose her prefect badges over it.

She led her freckled friend over to their white-blonde enemy and sat down beside him as Ron was plopped in front of her next to Pansy. The looks of disgust both came from Draco and Pansy, but neither one of them made a move to say anything. Hermione hoped it would stay that way, but figured it wouldn't.

"Hello," the Head Boy spoke to the twenty-two other prefects. He waited for a murmur of responses before continuing. "Some of you in here are new to the idea of being a prefect while most of you already know what's expected of you. That doesn't mean that any of you should be exempted from paying attention to what we are here to talk about."

The Head Girl took over and said to the small crowd, "As you should already know, prefects are carefully chosen students from each house to help maintain order and help out other students. For your usual duties, you are to patrol the corridors and train, help first years with whatev-"

Hermione's attention was suddenly broken from watching Head Girl for the oddest of reasons. Malfoy had bent over and sniffed her face. Actually _sniffed_ her. She watched as he plugged his nose up and fell back against his side of the wall as quickly as he could.

Through a nasally voice (of course, it came from his nose being plugged) Draco said, "I thought I smelt something odd-of course I figured it was Weasley's stench of poverty, but now I know it's not."

Hermione stared at Malfoy, expecting for him to continue. His lip had been curled into a snarl; she thought it made him look uglier than she'd already perceived him as. If only he could read her mind at this very moment.

"No, no," he said through jeering laugh. "I'm afraid it was the stench of your filthy blood."

Hermione felt a slight pang of embarrassment in her chest. Hermione though about how she had showered that very morning, put on plenty of deodorant, and spritzed on some perfume. Then it hit her-Malfoy was just being a jerk. So, instead of giving in and quipping back just like he'd wanted, Hermione kept her head high and put her attention back onto the speech.

As the Head Boy and Girl continued talking to the crowd, Hermione listened with rapt attention. In the corner of her eye, Hermione seen the other students chatting among themselves. Ron had decided that the loose strings on the bottom of his shirt were more important while Malfoy and Parkinson were playing footsy or some other stupid foot game. Hermione inwardly sighed at the dimwits near her. She Loved Ron-as a friend of course-but he was definitely had the attention span of a four week old puppy.

Hermione could tell the speech was nearing to an end. Honestly, she was somewhat glad; Malfoy made her insides boil. Merlin, that Slytherin was such a nuisance towards her and her friends, and she doubted he wouldn't insult her at least once more before they departed. Then again, it'd been nearly half an hour since he'd last bothered her. Maybe he didn't care as much this year. That thought disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"You know Granger, I think you and the freckled freak could have some pretty cute kids," said Draco.

He had leaned in close to her, so close that Hermione felt a shiver go down her spine as his breath danced across the hairs on her neck.

"I can picture it already; five or six little bushy haired gingers running around the Burrow in clothes that no longer fit them. I think maybe one of them would be smart like you, but the rest would dimwitted like their fugly father."

"You little-"

Ron had made a move to grab his wand once Pansy's barky laugh started up. Draco's hand stopped him.

"Ah, ah, ah, Gingy. Wouldn't want to lose that prefect badge, would you?" he taunted.

Ron sneered at Draco and barked, "Are you sure you're just not afraid of being hexed, Malfoy?"

"Hexed by you?" Draco let out an unamused laugh. "Last time you tried to hex me, you ended up puking slugs for the rest of the night. So by all means, go ahead. I'm not afraid of you."

Ron pulled out his wand, but Hermione stuck her hand out and stopped him.

"It's not worth it, Ron. Come along now; you and I have first patrol and the fourth carriage."

With that, Hermione dragged Ron away from the prefects carriage and through the next three. She almost wished he had jinxed Malfoy. Her conscience ached, but sometimes it had been extremely hard to not despise Draco.

* * *

It was dark throughout Gryffindor tower, but the flames in the fireplace licked the walls with their bright warmth. From that small bit of light, Hermione was capable of seeing throughout the common room. Harry and Ron had ventured up to their dormitory just a mere few minutes ago and no one else was in the common room.

She should have gone to bed when everyone else had, but she hadn't felt a bit worn out. Actually, the opposite. Hermione was full of life and ready to begin the first day of Hogwarts. She felt much like a child on night before Christmas. Hermione chuckled to herself. _Only I would be this excited to get started on work._

All of the students had gotten to Hogwarts about five hours ago, and piled into the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall brought in the first years -who all had bright big eyes either filled with either wonder or anxiety. Had she and her friends also looked like that when they first arrived through them large wooden doors? Surely not. Then again, Harry has cracked a couple of jokes about Hermione looking quite nervous when the sorting had been plopped onto her head. She remembered that moment very well.

 _'Hmm...'_

 _Hermione jumped with start as a voice echoed in her mind. She quickly realized that it was the Sorting Hat; she had read in Hogwarts: A History that the Sorting hat often spoke to whoever's head it had been placed upon._

 _'You do have quite a brilliant mind... Yes, you would do very nicely in Ravenclaw. Rowena would want you -then again, so would Godric. Stood up to a bully last year, eh? They need an intelligent member-I know just where to place you...'_

 _"Gryffindor!"_

 _Hermione felt a bright smile stretch her lips; had finally been placed into a house._

 _A home._

That would always be one of Hermione's more treasured moments, something unforgettable. After many hours of reading about all four of the houses, Hermione was positive she would be put in Ravenclaw. She had the brains for it. She had been astounded when the Sorting Hat put her in Gryffindor. Nonetheless, Hermione made Gryffindor her home; the people in that house were her family.

Her, Harry, and Ron had been there for each other ever since the very beginning of their lives at Hogwarts. There was also Neville; he was clumsy, unlucky, and bit dorky, but even though Neville would be deemed even more uncool, he still stood up to the trio which ultimately earned Hermione's respect. Ginny had spent a lot of time with Hermione, especially after being cooped in a room together for two months.

She was Ron's little sister, and the youngest Weasley. There were seven Weasley children born from Arthur and Molly Weasley. The oldest two, Bill and Charlie, had graduated long before they got here, then there was Percy who currently did not consider himself a Weasley; after him came the twins, Fred and George, then Ron, and finally Ginny.

She heard the sound of feet scuffling past the couch she'd relaxed herself in. Lavender Brown fumbled toward the bathroom, oblivious to Hermione. Lavender was one of the girls she shared a dorm with, although, Hermione hadn't developed much of a bond with the girl. She doubted she'd bond with any of the girls in her dorm. Not like it mattered; she'd be gone in three years.

With those last thoughts Hermione decided to go up into the stairs Lavender had retreated from. She should at least try to get some sleep. It'd be absolutely horrid if she went through tomorrow completely exhausted.

Hermione entered the room and heard a quiet clicking noise coming from the window. With a quick glance, she noticed that an owl was beating on the pane, begging for entry. She cracked it open and the bird landed on her arm. Immediately, she recognized him to be Viktor Krum's expensive owl named Hermes. Odd time for the letter to arrive, but Hermione had been awaiting his response anyways.

She untied the letter from the owl and it hopped onto the windowsill. She took this as a sign that Viktor told the bird to stay, so that must have meant that he wanted a reply as soon as possible. Hermione clambered onto her bed, closed the curtains, and took out her wand.

"Lumos," she whispered quietly, as to not awaken the other girls.

The tip of her wand lit up the small space around her and she was finally able to see what Viktor had written to her.

 _August 31, 1995_

 _Hello Sweet Hermione,_

 _I just received your letter that you had written to me. Your English is very well and it impresses me a lot; enough that I have decided to get a coach to teach me better English pronunciation. After all, I think I am still saying your name wrong._

 _I am very glad that you are finally getting to go back to Hogwarts, since it is clear on how much you love it there. Please tell me how your time has gone since you've arrived. Speaking of Hogwarts, you mentioned that you had been promoted to a prefect. Not very sure what that is, but I'd love to know._

 _Things have been going good in Bulgaria. There's been a lot of practicing for Quidditch lately; I believe we are going to have a lot of good games this year. Our team is getting better and better by the day._

 _That's all I have to say at the moment. I hope to hear from you soon._

 _Viktor Krum_

Hermione smiled at the letter from her pen pal. After the events of the Triwizard tournaments, Viktor was forced to go back to his homeland, Bulgaria. That had ended any chance of them courting very quickly. He was nice and strong, but Hermione wasn't in need of a boyfriend; she felt fine being by herself. That didn't mean she wasn't wanting anything in the future, though. Actually, she looked forward to possibly getting married and starting a family of her own.

Lavender had just come back into the room which broke Hermione away from her thoughts, and she took out a piece of parchment and a quill. This would be the perfect time to write back to Victor. Not like she would be falling asleep anytime soon, and writing might even make her dreary.

About a half an hour later of scribbling down paragraphs and revising them, Hermione had finally finished writing her letter to Viktor. Like any smart person would do, she reread the writing one last time.

 _September 2, 1995_

 _Greetings Viktor,_

 _Its nice to be seeing a letter coming back from you. Although, Hermes arrived at nearly one in the morning. Thank Merlin I was awake._

 _So the great Viktor Krum doesn't know what a prefect is, does he? Such a shame; I thought you were top-of-the-class smart. I'm only kidding, I should've thought about you being from Durmstrang and not ever hearing about it. Silly me. Anyways, a prefect is someone appointed from a house to look after students and help around the school. There are twenty-four of us. They pick a boy and a girl from each house during their fifth year. They remain a prefect for the rest of their Hogwarts years. If they choose so, that is. Of course, I plan to stay as a prefect-maybe even try to become Head Girl. She's like the number one female, seventh year student. There's a Head Boy, too._

 _I just got to Hogwarts a few hours ago, and its been okay so far. Everything's been normal, but I doubt it will last very long-it never does. We have another new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and she's a worker for the Ministry. I think she seems rather snooty, myself, but that doesn't matter._

 _Also, I am glad that you wish to learn how to speak better English. You do seem to write it very well. I don't think you should worry so much about people having to understand you; I hear you just fine. By the way, its pronounced hur-my-uh-nee._

 _Have fun with Quidditch!_

 _Hermione Granger_

She called Hermes over to her bed and tied the rolled up letter to his left foot. With a final small hoot, he flapped his wings into the air and flew out of her sight. Now that she had settled down, Hermione felt exhausted. She let herself finally drift off into a dreamless slumber that would be interrupted in a few hours.


	3. II Push You Around

The morning started out horrendous for Hermione. None of the girls had thought to even wake her up; so when she'd finally awoken there was no time to take some of the frizz out of her hair. She was to walk around all day as a floppy poodle.

The night before, Hermione had prepared her bags for the school day, so at least that wasn't a worry. It also gave her more time fix her robes.

By the time she had gone into the Gryffindor common-room, Harry, Ron, Neville, and Dean were all sparked into a conversation.

"What's the matter?" she wondered, loudly.

Harry's brow was furrowed and his eyes were staring after the door, in which someone had left before she arrived. Whoever it was, they had Harry worked up.

"You look absolutley-Oh for heavens sake."

The common-room noticeboard had a huge new sign pinned to it.

 _GALLONS OF GALLEONS!_

 _Pocket money failing to keep pace with your outgoings?_

 _Like to earn a little extra gold?_

 _Contact Fred and George Weasley, Gyffindor common room,_

 _for simple, part-time, virtually painless jobs._

 _(We regret that all work is undertaken at applicant's own risk.)_

Hermione tore down the poster and firmly told Ron, 'They are the limit. We'll have to talk to them, Ron."

Ron snapped towards Hermione with his eyes bulging out of his head.

"Why?"

Hermione fumed and said, "Because we're prefects!"

With that being said, Hermione walked out of the room as Ron and Harry trudged alongside her. She pestered Harry about what they had been discussing prior to her walking in; in which Ron had been the one to blurt out that Seamus was claimed Harry as a 'crazy, attention-seeking boy'. Hermione made it a point to assure them that Seamus was wrong.

Not too much longer, the trio had arrived into the Great Hall and went about their normal breakfast. Hermione checked the Daily Prophet to see what the Ministry was saying. Plus, she had finally gotten the chance to scold Fred and George about their joke shop. Of course the twins only laughed at her.

Not too much longer, the fifth year Gryffindors went to their History of Magic Class with Professor Binns-he was the only ghost at Hogwarts who taught. Much to her dismay Ron and Harry copied off all of her notes down; she wished that they would finally start doing their own work this year, but alas they still felt same about doing work this year as they had last year and the years before that.

Next they had Potions class with Professor Snape. He was a grouchy, middle aged man who made it his personal life goal to make everyone miserable-Harry, especially. Hermione felt sort of bad for her friend, but she knew there was nothing she could do to make Snape any less awful.

"Settle down," their teacher spoke out, suddenly appearing through the door.

His robes made a _swoosh_ as he waved his arm out to the entire class. No one had been talking beforehand, so Hermione wondered why he felt the need to try to silence them; it was already quiet.

"Before we begin today's lesson," said Snape as his beady dark eyes stared at each of them. "I think it is appropriate to remind you that next June you will be sitting at an important examination, during which, you will prove how much you have learned about the composition and the use of magical potions. Moronic though some of this class undoubtably are, I expect you to scrape an 'Acceptable' in your OWL, or suffer my... displeasure.

"After this year, of course, many of you will cease studying with me," continued Snape. "I take only the very best into my NEWT Potions class, which means that some of us will certainly be saying goodbye."

Hermione hoped to be in NEWT Potions. Sure, her and Professor Snape weren't exactly buddies, but she would always look pass any unneeded pettiness to improve her education. After all, she did plan to be the best.

"But we have another year to go before that happy moment of farewell, so whether you are intending to attempt NEWT, I advise all of you to concentrate your efforts upon maintaining the high pass level I have come to expect from my OWL students."

Their professor had finally got to telling them what their plans for today would be -making a Draught of Peace- and some tips for brewing it. Of course, he had also put the directions on his blackboard.

She was about to get started on brewing the draught, but Snape had once again begun speaking, earning several groans from the class.

"One more thing," he announced loudly. "This year, we are going to try something new-creating a potion. I am going to give you until the beginning of June to turn this in, but you may hand it in whenever you feel it is ready. I expect that the time you use on you be used outside of this classroom. I will still give you days to work on your project during class, but it will be marked as a participation grade."

Hermione let out the slightest grin. Of course, Harry and Ron weren't excited as she- it was obvious as she watched them both slump into their seats and mumble curses. Most of the class shared the same expression as her friends, but Hermione couldn't understand why; this was the best thing to ever happen in Potions.

"Also, you will have a partner to work with who intellectually compares to yourself."

 _Intellectually compared to ourselves?_ That meant she wouldn't get to pair with Harry or Ron or even Neville. Actually who was she going to partner with? There weren't really any other intelligent Gryffindors; perhaps Snape would put her with a Slytherin then. She glanced around at some of her choices-not that there were many.

She figured she would probably be placed with Blaise Zabini. He was one of the few bearable Slytherins; of which there weren't many. Hermione figured he was the most brilliant of all the serpents. He was also pretty attractive for someone in Malfoy's gang; with his chiseled facial features and glowing dark skin. So, it couldn't be that horrible being paired with Zabini. She doubted he'd bother to call her a mud blood, even if he was prejudice.

"Please listen carefully; I am going to tell you who is paired with who along with the potion I expect you to work on." Snape used a summoning charm, and a list flew over into his fingers. "Pansy Parkinson and Seamus Finnigan-Hearing Potion; Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle-Potion of Muffling ( _Of course those two idiots would be pared together_ , Hermione thought to herself.); Ron Weasley and Theodore Nott-Draught of Sobering; Harry Potter and Neville Long bottom-Cure for Mer Venom; Blaise Zabini and Dean Thomas-Draught of Dry Mouth; Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger-Cure for Feelings of Hatred-"

After that, Hermione's attention was not with Snape; instead it had been placed on the bratty Slytherin who had suddenly looked at her with utmost disgust. Hermione glanced back at her two friends who simply gave her a sorry-about-your-tough-luck look. Hermione was not going to deal with this. She promptly raised her hand into the air and waited for Professor Snape to acknowledge her.

Without looking away from his list, Snape told her, "No, Miss Granger; you may not switch partners." Then he went back to naming off groups.

Hermione felt defeated and exhausted. The sleepless night she'd had last night was finally starting to get to her and they were only in their second class. How was she supposed to sit through Malfoy (which would tire her even more just dealing with him) and go through two more classes? She put her head down and waited for the rustling of feet around her.

Before Hermione could stand up, someone had pulled out a chair beside her while she felt the presence of another standing behind her.

"Get up, you mess of frizz. I need this seat."

It was Pansy Parkinson who had bossed her around; Hermione had heard the voice plenty of times to know exactly who it was.

With a lasting glare at Parkinson, Hermione stood up and grabbed her bag and cauldron. She searched around for Draco. Luckily, his noticeable white hair was shinning an almost orange color from the glow of lamps hanging on the walls. He seemed to be fixing his green and silver tie-completely oblivious to everything going on around him.

Hermione walked over to the row he had chosen and sat between him and another Slytherin boy name Gasrik Glockery. Fortunately, neither of them seemed to be paying any attention to her. Hermione took out her cauldron and a couple other things before working on her potion. Draco had gotten up, but returned to his seat soon enough.

"Here," he muttered.

A bunch of ingredients that would be used on their Draught of Peace was dropped down beside her; shockingly enough, Draco had gotten them for her. All Hermione could do was stare at the fifteen year-old with her mouth agape.

"Stop staring at me, Miss Frizzle; I know you're probably bedazzled by my handsome features, but you could make it a bit less obvious on how intrigued you are."

Hermione ignored his nickname-which was actually more of an insult-and simply said to herself, "That's not what I was intrigued about."

"Then what was it?"

Oops, he'd heard her. She figured he'd stop paying attention to her now that they were running out of time for their potion to be brewed.

"I was wondering about two things, actually. Firstly, why would you of all people get my ingredients; I mean you hate me." Hermione paused to figure how she would word her next statement without making Malfoy turn into a defensive jerk. "And secondly, how did we even get partnered together? I was positive Blaise was going to be the one helping me on our project."

Draco seemed to be pondering what she had said, for it took nearly half a minute for him to respond.

"To answer your first question, me getting your ingredients had nothing to do with me hating you-trust me, you get on my last nerve. I just didn't want to have to keep moving out of my seat, so you could go and look through the ingredients forty times."

Draco begun to start crafting together his draught, reading a couple of directions before performing them seamlessly.

"And for your second question, Snape said that we were to be paired based on who we were intellectually compatible with. Believe it or not, you and I are the smartest students in this class."

Hermione pondered on what Draco had just told her. She'd never really considered him to be brilliant or anything, but she knew he wasn't as dumb as Crabbe and Goyle. Nearly as smart as her, though? Surely not. Draco spent all of his time manipulating people and plotting out ways to bully her and her friends. No one smart would do that, would they?

Hermione immediately face palmed. Had she forgotten about You-Know-Who? He was the most powerful and intellectual wizard of their time-other than Dumbledore, of course. Plus, Gerralt Grindlewalt had proven himself to even be a challenge for Dumbledore to subdue. So technically, you didn't have to be a good person to be smart. There were plenty of dark people who exceeded the average intelligence.

As she continued through this challenging potion, Hermione felt her eyes growing irritated and burned as she kept them open to work on the potion. She should have gone to sleep last night.

"Didn't sleep well last night, did you Granger?" Draco had suddenly said with a hint of amusement. "What was it? Nightmares keeping you up? I'm not judging, though; I'd have nightmares too if I always seen that ugly mug staring back at me in the mirror."

Hermione quickly went back to working on her potion, she did not want to fight with Malfoy today. It'd started out almost pleasant; why would he have to ruin it?

Draco obviously had been bothered about whether she paid any attention to him. He kept whispering demeaning slurs at her. All Hermione wanted to do was jinx him, but she refused to act upon it; Malfoy was one of the few students Snape liked and she was sure he would dock points from her house if she'd pulled such a stunt.

"Potter, what is this supposed to be?"

Hermione and Draco both turned their head towards the direction of Snape's voice; he was leering over Harry's cauldron with a snarl on his lips.

Harry was very tense, she noticed. Hopefully he wouldn't get himself into trouble -after all, she was sure Professor Snape wouldn't take kindly to Harry's new attitude.

"The Draught of Peace."

Snape stared into Harry's eyes with so much concentration she swore Snape stopped blinking.

With that cold glare he also asked him, "Tell me, Potter, can you read?"

Hermione heard Draco let out a snicker of a laugh, and an idea popped into her brain. While everyone had their attention on the scene between Harry and Snape, Hermione took three pinches of powdered moonstone and flicked them into Draco's cauldron. Luckily, he was so busy entrancing himself within the loud conversation near them, that he'd never even noticed his potion to be changing an odd lilac color.

Hermione had been able to catch the last bit of Snape's words to Harry before he begun instructing the rest of the class.

"Those of you who have managed to read the instructions, fill one flagon with a sample of your potion, label it clearly with your name, and bring it up to my desk for testing," said their professor. "Homework: twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday."

Grabbing a flagon, Hermione filled it with her version of the potion and scribbled her name onto the label plastered to it. She glanced over to Draco who seemed to have still not noticed the difference in his potion.

His actions mimicked hers, but as she finally got up to turn hers in, she heard him abruptly stop what he was doing and loudly announce to no one, "Hey-wait a second-my potion was not this stupid red color a minute ago!"

Hermione snickered while she made her way up to Snape's desk and gave him her potion. Now, they were finally dismissed and she could leave this class -well, plus she probably needed to console Harry about receiving no marks on today's assignment.

* * *

It'd been three days since Professor Snape had assigned Draco and Hermione together for a year-long project; and the two of them hadn't even bothered to speak to each other since. Hermione was probably avoiding him just as he had been avoiding her. Things were about to change, though; Draco wanted to get started on the project soon, so his parents would be impressed with the good marks he could already see himself getting.

He had no idea what could be used to make a potion that would make a person forget any hatred they felt for someone. Perhaps they could try to form some sort of calming potion or change the hatred into affection. Whatever it was that he and Hermione decided to do, it wasn't something that had to be decided by himself right this moment.

"Draco, the first trip to Hogsmeade is going to be soon," announced Pansy from across the Slytherin dining table. "I thought maybe you and I could go there together?"

Draco gave her a sly smile and gestured over to Crabbe and Goyle. "As much fun I'm sure we'd have together, I've already told dumb and dumber here that I would meet them at Zonko's."

"What about after Zonko's?"

Pansy was a persistent girl, there was no way to deny that. Draco figured it was probably from being given whatever she desired as a child; not that Draco had been raised any different. His parents would buy him the moon if he asked.

Draco finally replied to Pansy after a brief moment of thought.

"The best answer I can give you is a maybe."

Pansy gave Draco a nod before conversing with a few of the girls sitting on her right; they were talking about the new design for some hair potion. Figures. All they ever worried about were minor problems.

On Pansy's left sat Theo and Blaise who were chatting up a black haired beauty named Avrix Malus. She reminded him of his aunt, Bellatrix; the way she dressed in dark clothes and reveled in the dark arts. Not that any of that mattered to him.

Not even a minute later, a glint of red hair caught Draco's eye; Ron Weasley had just entered the Great Hall along with his two friends, Harry and Hermione. A slight irritation built up in Draco's chest.

Draco scoffed loudly as he watched them; they were always being praised for breaking the rules and saving the day. Yes, Hero Potter and his sidekicks were 'best things' to ever happen to the wizarding world. Thank Merlin they were always snooping around and causing havoc; what would they do had it not been for them. Draco snorted with that thought. He could do so much better than them; all he needed was something to fix himself.

Granger suddenly shot Draco a disapproving look, in which Draco had realized he was still staring at them without falter. He didn't look away, though. Draco wasn't going to let her think he was intimidated by them; that'd probably make Harry feel a new sense of pride. Draco was not having that.

By the time Hermione had looked away from him and seated herself down, Draco was having some recurring thoughts of his own. Everything he'd been worrying about the project came back to mind and he finally settled down upon a single decision. Draco was going make Hermione come to the library with him at once. Neither of them were busy; she couldn't say no.

Draco abruptly stood up, the eyes of his friends following every inch he'd risen.

"Where are you going?" asked Crabbe.

Draco didn't respond, but only ushered him to sit down with a flick of his hand. After that, the lot of them seemed to have forgotten Draco and went back to chatting with one another. He'd prefer them do that; he didn't need his friends witnessing him talking to Hermione Granger.

The walk over to the Gryffindor table seemed to take forever; he noticed a few students surrounding him seemed to have thrown their attention in his direction, but the one he was coming to see had her nose in the newest print of the Daily Prophet.

Harry and Ron had noticed Malfoy standing behind Hermione, for they stared at him with disdainful expressions. Hermione finally put down the magazine and swallowed a spoonful of stew. She never noticed to tension in the air.

Ron was the first to open his mouth.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he spat out.

Draco payed no attention to Weasley, and instead looked towards Hermione who had finally realized he was behind her.

"About time you stopped reading that magazine; not that I haven't been paying attention to them either. I have to admit, I think it's well pass time for them to notify the world of how crazy Potter is."

Usually, one of Draco's cronies were there to laugh with him, but they had been sitting at the Slytherin table where he'd told them to stay. Instead, Draco was met with Hermione's glare.

"You've obviously come to speak to me," said Hermione. "Well, get on with it."

Draco rolled his eyes at how uptight she was; how she'd always been.

He then reminded her, "In case you have already forgotten, you and I were paired together to create a cure for feelings of hatred-"

"I haven't forgotten,"she quickly interrupted him.

Draco simply ignored her and continued, "-and since you haven't made any advances to work with me yet, I've come to take you to the library so we could get started."

"Right now?" she asked him.

"Of course, right now; otherwise I wouldn't have wasted my time coming over here," he replied curtly.

Hermione gave a 'hmph' and told Draco, "Well, you're just going to have to wait so I can finish eating."

Draco was astounded that Hermione had denied him; after all, she was the type to constantly be finding a reason to go to the library. She was most likely just trying to find a way to spite him. Irritable little girl, she was.

"So, you just expect me to wait while you lollygag around?" he asked.

"Firstly, I'm not 'lollygagging around'," she started. "Secondly, perhaps you should just sit down and we'll leave as soon as I'm done."

Draco scoffed loudly and retorted, "I do not associate myself with the likes of you."

"Then stand; I don't care."

So, Draco stood there. The people surrounding him seemed to keep sneaking glances at him and snickering with their friends. Draco glared at anyone who dared to make direct eye contact with him; he knew most of the students feared him-well, his name really. The Malfoys got whatever they wanted; went wherever they wanted; and ruined whoever they wanted.

A small bit of time lasted for what seemed to be centuries and Draco grew to find himself sick of standing there. Their taunting eyes mad him feel uneasy-embarrased really, but he would never admit it.

Draco finally sat down beside Hermione; his back pointed towards her with his arms crossed and eyes fixated on his shoes. Potter and Weasley were laughing behind his back, but Draco didn't bother turning around to insult them. People would think that he was conversing with them; or worse-friends.

After twelve agonizing minutes of listening to the three talk about Weasley joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Hermione left to go to the library. Once there, Draco found a seat in an unoccupied corner as Hermione left to go get their cauldron out of a cubby hole Snape had reserved for his fifth year students.

"Have any ideas?" Draco asked her once she returned.

Hermione shook her head and opened up a book about ingredients. Draco watched her read through a few pages, her brown curls shaping her jaw. Hermione seemed to be so indulged into the words. Draco was never able to completely focus on a boring book; though, he had read quite a few books during his time, but the amount would never be considered anything close to what Hermione had read.

Draco continued to sit there fiddling his thumbs around until Hermione finally looked up at him. Her eyebrows were crunched together in disappointment, but all he noticed was that they needed to be plucked.

"What?" he finally spat out.

Hermione huffed at him and said, "Aren't you going to help?"

Draco grumbled something unkind and plucked a book off of the shelf. In it he was able to find out a load of things that were useful, but only useful to other people. He thought this was a waste of time. Just as Draco was about to shut the book, he noticed the word 'calming' and read that paragraph to himself.

 _Centaur Urine_

 _While it is very hard to obtain, centaur urine has been used since medieval times in mixtures to calm a person's nerves. While, it does taste very bitter, it's best used in potion that can be swallowed. It takes on average three and a half hours to brew with any other ingredients. Never mix with giant fungus; as you will get an undesirable explosion._

Draco felt somewhat accomplished at what he had found. He slid the book in front of Hermione and pointed at the paragraph. She had a small grin on her face, something he rarely seen from her; which wouldn't surprise him because they hated one another. The last thing you do when you see someone you dislike is smile.

He gave a fake cough, which finally made her look up from whatever she had been reading. How she found a book of potions so interesting was something he'd never known. Hermione read over the text he'd shown her and slowly nodded, obviously thinking.

"Yes-that-I believe that should be something we should experiment with," she mumbled mostly to herself. "Where could we get it, though?"

Draco said, "Well, Snape probably has some."

Hermione quickly shook her head at him and replied with, "Snape doesn't like me, I doubt he'd help."

"Ah yes," Draco said with a smirk. "I forgot that there was a teacher Hermione Granger couldn't suck-up to. Doesn't matter; Snape favors me."

"I am not a suck-up!" Hermione argued.

Draco gave her a yes-you-are look and she shrunk back into her seat. He began picking up the small mess they'd created and locked up their cauldron-he told himself to not get it out again until they actually needed it.

With those last actions, Draco walked out of the library without giving so much as a glance to the sulking Hermione.


	4. III Art of Deception

A cold autumn seemed have appeared very quickly in the year of 1995. Everyone's noses were rosy when they came back inside from Hogsmeade, their scarves wrapped tightly around their faces.

Draco felt Pansy's cold hand grasp his; he thought about pulling away from her, but rather just accepted it to avoid a mess.

Draco figured out a bit ago how she really felt about him. When he'd asked her to the Yule Ball last year, she blushed like mad and went to brag to her friends about him liking her. He couldn't deny that his heart used to flutter when she spoke to him, except that was the thing; it _used_ to.

Now, he spent his time trying to avoid her attempts at going to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop with him. Unfortunately for him, Pansy cornered him outside of Zonko's. Draco could only imagine the look that probably marked his face with the realization he was by himself; Crabbe and Goyle had just been behind him, but disappeared when he needed them most.

During the trip to Hogsmeade, Draco had managed to avoid Pansy -well, really he'd forgotten all about her; the new merchandise at Zonko's had put him in a new state of mind. Pansy had managed to not let him slip through her fingers-literally.

She still had a tight grasp of his hand which started cramping up. Draco went to pull away only to have her look up at him with sad doe eyes and he knew he couldn't hurt her feelings.

Of course the pair had been heading to Madam Puddifoot's for some tea, even Draco knew he couldn't deny the tea. Although, it was what Draco had seen on the way there that mostly peaked his interest.

Potter, Weasley, and Granger all went into Hog's Head; which is actually a really normal thing to do. What wasn't normal was the fact that several students had followed them in there.

What's wrong with a few students going into business, you ask? Hog's Head wasn't much of a business; the inside was filthy and only the grimiest of people would bother going in there. Draco never heard a student talking about how good the butterbeer was there, and that was because no one from Hogwarts ever paid any attention to it. So why were groups of students going in there?

"Pansy, lets go to Hog's Head instead."

Pansy's head whirled over to him, her black bobbed hair flipping across her face. The previous grin that she'd had was replaced when her lips parted in shock.

She asked him, "Now, why would you want to go in there? I heard it was absolutely horrid."

Draco gestured to Cho Chang and a few of her friends walking into the bar before saying, "I want to see why they're all going there for. More than a dozen have gone in."

"Yeah, but look at who it is; they're friends with Harry Potter which means that they're all probably crazy, too." Then she continued, "Now, come on, I want some tea."

Draco huffed, but followed her anyway.

As the few weeks went by, Draco never gave another thought about Hog's Head, but then came the day when he saw the same group of students huddling around each other. At first, it didn't seem suspicious, but then he'd watch them walk through the corridors in small groups, all heading the same direction.

It was the third time they had started doing this when Draco finally followed them along the corridors. Twenty or so minutes had passed and all they did was joke around and gossip; not once had they made any type of advances. Then, one of the girls looked over her shoulder and scanned the room with her eyes, which landed on him before she quickly looked away.

 _They know I'm following them; they're waiting for me to leave._

So that was what Draco did, or rather, pretended to do. He turned right around and went pass the corner, but that was the furthest he had gone before leaning up against the wall to listen to their whispers.

"He knows!"

"No, I think he's only suspicious about us; we'll have to be more careful."

"We need to tell Harry so he can inform the rest."

"He's gonna flip out, but I agree."

A round of footsteps followed their words so Draco tip-toed past the corner. No-one was there. He walked all along that corridor and the next, but he could never find any of the group.

Draco kicked the side of the wall (in which had him holding his foot and cursing for half a minute) before heading towards the Slytherin's common room.

After that day, Draco made it his personal job to find out what they were up to. Each time they began grouping up, he'd follow. Each time they came to the same exact hall. Each time they would just disappear.

He couldn't figure out where they went or why he could never find them. It wasn't like he could walk among them either. Draco even mentioned it at the Slytherin's table and they all said he was just plotting against Potter like always. Everything was so frustrating.

He had a meeting with Hermione a few days later, they were going to work on their potion some more. That was another thing that made Draco consider kicking the wall again; almost every time he looked around for her she was nowhere to be found, and even if he had managed to catch up with Hermione, she would postpone going with him. So far he'd only been able to work on their project twice since Hogsmeade. _Twice_.

So, when Hermione finally showed up to the library Draco couldn't help but sigh in relief. She pulled out a chair beside him and murmured a greeting before digging into a book.

"So, you actually showed up?"

Hermione looked up from her book and said, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," Draco started, "you usually tell me you're busy and can't come."

"Sorry, I keep getting caught up in stuff."

Draco grabbed her book and slid it away from Hermione; then told her, "Actually, I want to talk."

"What about?" she asked.

"I want to know what you've been doing."

He tucked her bangs behind an ear and looked into her eyes. The act felt foreign to him, and apparently to her, too. She stared at him with a frightened look on her face, her skin was now a ghostly white. Draco needed her to trust him; even if it was for just a minute.

Hermione finally replied, "I've been doing what I usually do-reading, schoolwo-"

"No, no, no," Draco interrupted. "I meant that I was curious on why you keep bailing on me."

"Oh," she muttered before pulling away from his touch. "It-It's not-It's nothing, really."

Draco shook his head and quipped, "It apparently _is_ something; after all, you've been spending most of your time working on whatever it is."

Hermione gave him a pleading look; he knew she wanted him to just drop it, lock up the conversation with a key and swallow it. Draco wasn't going to let it go. He'd worked so hard on figuring this all out, if he could just get Granger to come out to him then everything would all come together. He could snitch on Potter (which he presumed whatever they had been up to was against the rules, so therefore, very snitchable) and it would be so nice to see that attention-seeker finally get in trouble.

All he needed was for Hermione to spill the beans. It couldn't be that hard, could it? He just had to continue playing his cards right. After all, the Malfoys were known for manipulating people to get exactly what they wanted, even the most in-convincible of people.

Draco thought himself to be a very charming boy and Granger happened to be a teenage girl. One thing that Draco knew about girls was that they loved attention from a boy.

Hermione had completely stopped responding to him, his last statement had been left open and she was already back to reading. Draco was going to fix that.

He leaned closer beside her and whispered into her ear, "You're a smart girl; you know what I want, now."

With that, Draco tilted his head down and pressed his lips to the skin just below her ear. He moved his mouth down with wet, closed kisses. He felt the quickened pulse beneath him and opened his mouth ever so slightly, brushing along shivers that came from her.

He wanted to admit that he kind of liked doing this, but she was just some over-achieving mud-blood who he needed answers from; this was not something he would let himself enjoy.

His lips moved along Hermione in a weird, new feeling. The closest Draco had ever come to kissing a girl along her neck was when some of the older Slytherins would brag about their latest shag. Not that he hadn't shared a few pecks with Pansy in the past, but those were short and childish.

Draco used his tongue, stabbing the flesh with only the tip of it. A sigh of content had him smiling against her. If Draco kept this up, Hermione would be like Play-Dough in his hands, allowing him to play with her however he wished; she'd finally confess everything to him.

That thought was diminished quickly though, his hopes going along with it.

"Stop."

Draco pulled away from her, silently asking what was wrong. He almost didn't need to have her tell him. Why did he think she would allow this? Hermione was Potter's best friend and there was no way she would betray him at the hands of his enemy. _Their_ enemy.

Hermione grabbed her belongings and stuffed them into her bag. He watched her with every movement, silently wanting her to stay, to confide in him with everything she had been holding back. Not for her benefit, no, he couldn't care less about how Hermione felt.

Draco Malfoy was a selfish person and he wanted answers.

"Don't go yet, I-"

"You're right, Draco; I am a smart girl," Hermione spat. "I know exactly what you _want_ and you're not getting it -in fact, the information you want doesn't even exist. Face it, Malfoy. You were wrong and there's nothing here for you to use as leverage against Harry."

"You're such a liar!"

Hermione paid no more attention to Draco. She simply scampered out of the library with a handful of books threatening to slip from her grasp; leaving Draco to continue working on the potion by himself.

* * *

Hermione was really considering hexing Malfoy. That stunt he pulled in the library was not going to just fly pass her, everything wasn't going to be all fine and dandy between them (although, things between them had never been 'okay', but they had managed to stop yelling at each other when they met; the quicker they worked, the quicker they got away from the other). No, she was going to make it very clear to him how displeased she was.

Who did he think he was anyways? Trying to manipulate her into telling him about DA. Worst of all, he kissed her; it wasn't on the lips, but his mouth on her neck was just as bad. He wanted her to forget that she hated him, forget that she was even keeping anything a secret. Malfoy made Hermione want to scream.

She brushed her fingers along the spot he had been kissing not too long ago. It felt sensitive and tingled at even her own touch; she wasn't sure if she was just imagining the new feeling or if he had made her continue to feel like that. Hermione wished he had never touched her, but she wasn't going to deny that he had some sort of practice.

With who, though? The only people who seemed to like Malfoy were the Slytherins and she didn't think he spent his nights kissing Crabbe. Maybe it was Parkinson. Now that she thought about it, it had to have been Pansy; she was almost always with him and Hermione had noticed them being affectionate towards the other a couple of times.

That led to more questions, though. Were the two of them dating? If so, had Draco really just done such an act of betrayal? Hermione and Draco were all alone in that section of the library; no one was prying into what they were doing. Draco could've very well shagged her (not that she'd let him) and no-one would have known.

Hermione kind of liked thinking that she had that type of leverage against both Pansy and Draco. They were not going to tease about her Muggle parents no more.

"There you are," shouted Ron, who had just walked into the Gryffindor common room. "Harry and I went to the library to find you, but all we seen was that stupid Malfoy."

Hermione made a face at the mention of his name, something that seemed to have caught their attention.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

Hermione wondered if she should tell them about Draco. Not because she wanted to protect him-oh Merlin, no-, but she thought that if Harry knew, then he'd confront Draco and get himself into more trouble with Umbridge. Then, she thought about how Harry and Ron deserved to see how badly Malfoy wanted to know their secret.

"Something happened with Malfoy today," she started. "He's not going to stop until he knows what we're doing."

Ron asked, "Well, what happened? What'd that twit do?"

"You see, he tried to-well, really he-Draco tried to make me let my guard down and forget that I was keeping everything a secret from him."

Harry looked at her strangely before wondering, "What do you mean by 'tried to get you to let your guard down'?"

Hermione felt a fiery warmth on her cheeks, she wasn't too sure about fully explaining what had happened to them. Harry and Ron were like her brothers she never had, she wouldn't tell her brother about letting a boy kiss her neck. If she didn't tell them, though, she knew that they would press on until given an answer.

"Draco made some advances on me and tried to coax me into spilling the beans while my guard was down."

Harry had an expression of realization come across his face that was soon followed by a snarl. Ron on the other hand just sat there with his brow raised and a dazed look in his eyes; he was trying to figure out something in his head.

Finally, he asked her, "What do you mean by 'advances'? Did he try to like, jinx you?"

"No, you daft idiot!" Hermione shouted at him. "He got really close to me and touched my hair and then started having a-basically a make out session with my neck."

"Did you enjoy it?" Ron fumed.

Hermione gagged and said,"Of course not! I pushed him away and left as soon as I figured out what he'd been trying to do."

"Good," muttered Ron. "Malfoy is gross."

Harry finally broke into the conversation and announced, "No matter how 'gross' Malfoy is, that doesn't change the fact that he knows we're meeting up and that he'll do whatever is necessary to find out."

"How did he even find out?" Hermione wondered. "No one else has noticed."

"I don't know, but we need to tell the group to start being more careful."

* * *

After the moment between Draco and Hermione in the library, Draco found himself constantly snapping at anyone who tried to interact with him. At one point, he even jinxed some first year's face to break out in boils. That burst of anger also landed him in detention with Professor McGonagall later that night.

He hadn't told anyone about the game he tried to play, about how he had tried to lead Hermione into a mind of deception; no, Draco did not want to further embarrass himself. How would Crabbe and Goyle take to Draco getting so intimate with a mud-blood, even if it was fake? Or Pansy? While the two dimwits would probably just tease him for it, Pansy would be heartbroken.

Draco shook his head and soon forgot about the thoughts that were unimportant. What he needed to worry about right now was how to get Granger to confess. Draco should've been smart; he should've just decided to play someone else, but now Hermione had lit some kind of spark in him and the smoke from it reeked of determination. Granger humiliated him and now it was going to be his turn to humiliate her. No matter what it took, Draco was going to make her come out to him, make her betray Harry, make her feel as he did.

Professor Flitwick walked in front of Draco, but he was so short that Draco could only see the top of his head bouncing below his desk. Draco was leaned back in the chair and didn't really care about anything his professor had to say. That was until he stood right beside him, shouting in his ear at a really loud volume; in which Draco snorted at his attempt to not get overlooked.

"I'm not going to teach you how to perform this spell, but I do feel like you should know a bit about it," started Flitwick. "Legilimency, often pronounced as legilimens, is a type of charm that can be used to look into the victim's mind to see their thoughts, emotions, and memories."

"Sounds like a way to be friends with someone," joked one of his peers from the back of the classroom.

Draco didn't find the joke very funny, but it did make him think a bit. Perhaps, he had gone in the wrong direction when he tried to do something a bit intimate with Hermione. Draco had gone too far. Hermione wasn't used (or he assumed) to kissing or hardly anything that had to do with relationships, for that matter; the only memory Draco had of Granger being with someone was when Viktor Krum took her to the Yule Ball last year.

Instead of pressuring her into something that she wasn't comfortable with, Draco would have to ease Hermione into something much more trivial; she wasn't like other girls, Hermione didn't obsess over having a boyfriend, so his original idea was not going to work. No, Draco was going to do something different.

He would form a friendship with Hermione.


	5. IV Bloody Gifts

Not much time had passed since Draco and Hermione had last seen each other in the library. The latter hadn't made any more attempts to meet with him since; which had Draco in a bit of a frenzy, looking for any attempt to be near her, so his plan would begin working in his favor.

Word still hadn't gotten out about his little snogging stunt-not that it could really be considered snogging. No-one had yet to come up and tease him about it, so he figured Hermione had actually kept her mouth shut on the topic. Any other girl would've done bragged to the whole school about it.

Like Draco had decided previously, he'd been trying quite hard to come up with ideas make Hermione like him as friend. Draco figured he could start being much nicer to her, like, not reminding Hermione of her blood status and maybe saying much nicer things, compliments really. Friends didn't have verbal wars with each other.

Draco finally got to see Hermione when they had Potions together; she wasn't able escape him then. He watched as she took a seat next to him, keeping her head high and straight, not once looking over to him.

"Haven't seen you in a bit, Hermione; what've you been up to?"

She sneered, "Last time you wanted to know what I do in my spare time, you also happened to overstep step your boundaries."

"Well, _last time_ ," said Draco, "I also happened to be trying to get answers that I thought existed at the time."

"So, you're telling me that you couldn't care less about where I've been sneaking off to?" she asked him.

"Yep."

Hermione sat there staring at him with one of her eyebrows lightly raised and her eyes squinting at him.

Okay, so Draco should have thought out his wordplay a bit more. It was very unwise of him to just come into this conversation with obvious lies slipping off of his tongue. That didn't mean Draco could just tell Hermione that he was planning on pretending he was her friend, only to get answers from her. She'd push him off and he'd never find anything out.

"What's that?" asked Draco.

Something had slipped out of Hermione's book and onto the desk. It was an old piece of parchment with it corners torn and faded; the paper was folded into the shape of a rectangle and had writing on it. Draco grabbed it and rolled it open.

 _Top Ten Hotties_

 _Girls_  
 _1\. Susan Bones_  
 _2\. Daphne Greengrass_  
 _3\. Tracey Davis_  
 _4\. Hermione Granger_  
 _5\. Mandy Brocklehurst_  
 _6\. Lavender Brown_  
 _7\. Padma Patil_  
 _8\. Parvati Patil_  
 _9\. Pansy Parkinson_  
 _10\. Hannah Abbot_

 _Boys_  
 _1\. Dean Thomas_  
 _2\. Blaise Zabini_  
 _3\. Terry Boot_  
 _4\. Harry Potter_  
 _5\. Michael Corner_  
 _6\. Anthony Goldstein_  
 _7\. Draco Malfoy_  
 _8\. Roger Malone_  
 _9\. Ernie Macmillan_  
 _10\. Theodore Nott_

"Did you make this?" Draco managed to say through laughs.

Hermione didn't look up from her work, but still replied with a firm, "No."

"Then, why do you-"

"I found it on a desk in the library once, and used it as a bookmark," she interrupted.

Draco asked, "So, you didn't make it?"

"If I did, then you wouldn't be on there," Hermione said. "Plus, I'm not into girls."

"Wait-you don't think I'm a 'hottie'?"

Hermione let out what Draco thought was a chuckle; he never heard her laugh, so the sound was unrecognizable.

"Definitely not," she replied smoothly.

Draco frowned at her and then said, "Not sure what hurt more; you saying that or the fact that Potter is number four while I am number seven."

Draco looked back at the list and skimmed over the names once more; there had been a couple he didn't agree with, but most of them Draco thought were pretty accurate.

Lavender Brown shouldn't have been on that list. She aggravated Draco to no end, with her squeaky voice and constant drama and giggling, but then again she might have been considered hot to other guys.

Hermione wasn't in the right spot either. He glanced over to his partner and finally took in her features, like, really studied them after the five years of knowing her. She had the same bushy hair as always; her eyebrows could still use a good plucking, and she was stick thin. The last part wasn't that bad, though; she looked healthy. Plus, Hermione was only fifteen and would surely fill out a bit more.

Draco was going to tell her what he thought, but stopped himself from doing so. This would be the perfect moment to suck up to Hermione.

"You know," he started, "I think they should've placed you above Tracey Davis."

Hermione looked over to him, her eyes wide and mouth agape. She grabbed the list from him and looked at it. He then watched her look over to Tracey and back at the list, then at Draco.

Tracy Davis was a very pretty girl. That long, blonde hair of hers reached the mid of her back in soft ringlets; they were faker and less frizzy than Hermione's. She noticed Draco's eyes on her and flickered her own at him. Draco was reminded of the ocean when he seen them. Yes, Tracey was very attractive, but Draco would never go after her, even if she was in the same house as he. Draco would never settle for a half-blood.

"You're joking."

Draco smiled at Hermione and said, "Nope; I'm being serious."

"What about your girlfriend, then?" she questioned.

"I'm sorry," said Draco, "my what?"

Hermione gestured to Pansy sitting a few seats across from them, staring off into space instead of doing the work. The girl beside her was writing feverishly and Draco already knew that Pansy had somehow persuaded the other girl to do her work.

Draco then wondered, "You think Pansy is my girlfriend?"

Hermione nodded her head as a response.

"Well, she's not; we're just really good friends," he said.

Hermione went back to working after that and paid no attention to Draco, much to his dislike. He couldn't believe she thought he and Pansy were an item; then again, it wouldn't be that hard to believe. The two of them spent very much time together, sometimes doing holding hands or other romantic things. Plus, he had taken her to the Yule Ball. Draco realized that he finally needed to make sure Pansy knew they weren't together.

During the weeks that passed, Draco continued to try very hard at making Hermione his friend. He had never sucked up to someone as much as he was now, and Draco Malfoy was a professional at persuasion.

Usually, he could use his beloved father's name to get whatever he wished. That didn't work with Hermione, though; Draco always noticed the distaste in her eyes whenever she'd seen Lucius or he'd been brought up in conversation. Of course, she'd feel like that. The whole lot of Potter's crew knew the older Malfoy for what he really was-a Death Eater.

Draco didn't see anything wrong with being a Death Eater. In fact, Draco had spent most of his years awaiting the Dark Lord's return, so he could join his ranks and become the very best at cleansing the wizarding world; just like his father. He'd give anything to have that special tattoo on his forearm.

Another way Draco was like his father, was how he was able to buy his way into anything-or out of any situation. Draco remembered how he had gotten a spot on the Quidditich team; his father bought the entire team brand new Nimbus 2001 broomsticks.

Not that he was a horrible flier. Actually, Draco thought himself to be a superb brooms-man, but at the time, he was only in second year and the Slytherin Quidditch Team did not want a twelve year-old as their seeker.

Owls flew into the great hall-probably a bit more than a hundred-mostly carrying what seemed to be the newest copy of the Daily Prophet. One of the ministry owls dropped a copy in front of Draco, but he paid no attention to it; instead, Draco watched his family's eagle-owl swoop into the room.

Bubo didn't come to him, though. No, he flew over to the Gryffindor table and Draco smiled as the bird landed promptly in front of Hermione. He couldn't see her face, but he was able to watch Ron and Harry question her endlessly about the delivery.

It was time for him to pay her a visit, Draco decided. He briskly walked over to the Gryffindor table and Ron stared daggers at him while Harry continued reading the note Hermione had received.

Normally, Draco would've asked what it said, and then made fun of them for whatever it was. He didn't need them to read the note to him; Draco was the one who had rewritten it several times and could recite it perfectly in his head.

 _November 4, 1995_

 _Miss Granger,_

 _I heard you talking about the organization you started to help out the house elves, S.P.E.W. I've been informed of your late nights in the Gryffindor Common room, knitting hats, socks, and other garments for the house elves to pick up while they clean, so they may have the freedom you wish for them._

 _Along with this letter, I have sent you a gift. If you haven't been able to figure out what it is already-which I'm sure someone with your brilliance could do easily-it's a pair of magical self-knitting double-pointed knitting needles._

 _I hope you find these very useful._

 _Draco Malfoy_

After Draco had written down that letter, he sent it to his mother, explaining most of his plan on another parchment before asking her for a couple of favors. First, he needed her to go and buy the knitting needles (Draco told her where she could find them; he'd seen them at a store in Diagon Alley before). Then, he asked his mother if she would send it to Hermione with the letter he had written.

Draco took a seat next to Hermione in which she turned over to him, knitting needles in hand. Draco expected her to be elated, smiling and telling him how good he was to her and how she didn't deserve his kindness.

Instead, he was met with a blank expression. No frown, no smile, nothing. Her lips were in a straight line and she just stared him, with the same gaze he had often noticed her using during class.

"I see you got the gift," he finally started.

Hermione said, "Yes, thank you very much, Malfoy."

"So," Draco begun, "I was wondering if you'd like to meet in Hogsmeade next weekend; maybe we could get some tea or-"

"She doesn't want to hang out with you, Malfoy!" Ron yelled.

Draco looked over to the red head and replied, "I don't think I asked you what Hermione wanted to do, did I?"

"No, you didn't," said Harry, "but we know what you're trying to do and you're not going to manipulate Hermione like that."

"Yes, but what makes you think I'm just 'manipulating' Hermione?" he questioned. "Did it ever occur to either of you that I actually like Hermione and am I trying to befriend her?"

"You're full of lies!" spat Ron.

Harry leaned across the table and looked Draco in the eye, before saying, "You know, Malfoy, I might've actually believed you; if you weren't such a blood supremacist git."

"Yeah, Draco," said Ron, "Don't you remember all the times you called Hermione a mud-blood? Or do I need to remind you?"

"You're absolutely right."

Ron went to further argue with him, but soon closed his mouth and rather looked at Draco with wide eyes. Harry wore the same expression, along with Hermione and anyone near them who had been listening to the argument.

 _Geez, Gryffindors sure know how to look original_ , Draco sarcastically thought.

He then turned to the brown eyed girl and muttered, "Hermione, I am so sorry for calling you a mud-blood in the past."

Without letting Hermione say anything to him, Draco stood up from the table and walked out of the Great Room. He slowed down his pace and focused his ears behind him; all he could hear was the constant chattering of students.

Draco hung his head and gave up, walking towards the exit. That was when he finally heard it; the quick, light footsteps coming from behind him. He felt himself smirk.

"Draco!"

Turning around, Draco watched as Hermione ran up to him, breathing hard as her chest moved up and down. Her face was red, and her hair had been flung all along her head.

"Draco, I-why would-er, did you mean that?"

Draco slowly nodded and said, "Of course I did."

Hermione didn't respond immediately, instead she stood there looking like a bit of a fool trying to decide what she wanted to say to him. Draco felt himself growing very irritated, but resisted from letting it show.

"The gift is very much appreciated along with the apology," Hermione finally told him, "but I still can't help but think that it's all fake; that you're simply just trying to use me."

"Why?"

Hermione said, "Because even if you and I have never exactly been friends, I know you, Malfoy. I know that you use people, befriend only those who are beneficial to you, and use your money to get whatever you wish. I also know that you loathe Harry, and would love to put him in his place."

Draco listened to what she said very carefully, hanging on to each word and thinking everything over. As much as he hated to admit it, Hermione was right; Draco was that type of person and he doubted anything would change anytime soon.

"You know what, Granger?" he spat out. "I know you pretty well, too. The way you just parade around with your fifty books, trying to answer every question and completely running over everyone else.

"Who are you even trying to prove yourself to? Your parents? Their muggles, they couldn't possibly know any of this. Potter and Weasley? They already like you; actually, I'm pretty sure Weasley likes you a little _too_ much. So, who is it, Granger?"

"Myself, you twat," she cried out.

Hermione left Draco alone after that, knocking through a group of first years who were entering the corridor. They disregarded her and simply resumed walking. That was until they seen Draco; they knew him very well.

"No! It's that crazy, mean guy!" one of the first years shouted before they all ran away.

* * *

The day had started decently for Hermione; she had breakfast with her friends and then headed to the Quidditch pitch to cheer on the Gryffindors against the Slytherins. It was the first game of the year, something that was sure to start the season off with a bang.

Hermione shivered in the cool air that blew pass her in the top of the Gryffindor stands. She wore a heavy coat along with some gloves and a scarf, but the wind felt like needles against her face. She secretly hoped that this game would end soon.

She watched as the Gryffindors finally came out onto the field and stood across from the Slytherin team. Hermione recognized Montague as the new captain for the Slytherins; with Crabbe and Goyle standing behind him holding their beaters, and the keepers straggling in the back. Draco stood by himself to the side; Hermione could see him clearly as the sun shone on his bright hair.

The day before this one, Draco had caught up with Hermione and managed to tell her that he shouldn't have said those things to her in the corridor, and admitted that he only insulted her because she'd hurt his feelings. She accepted his apology, before shaking him off.

Hermione wasn't sure what to think of the whole situation; she kind of wanted to believe him, befriend him, but at the same time Hermione knew what he was doing. She didn't take kindly to being lied to.

Hermione continued to watch the game with Lee Jordan commentating in the background-well, McGonagall's shouts were also often heard interrupting Jordan. Harry was making a lap along the pitch, presumably looking for the snitch. Malfoy seemed to be mimicking him.

Lee made a comment about the Slytherins singing, and Hermione struggled to understand what they were saying. Everyone else seemed to have heard Jordan, and followed Hermione in pursuit, finally making the noise die down enough to hear.

"Weasley cannot save a thing,

He cannot block a single ring,

That's why Slytherin's all sing:

Weasley is our King.

"Weasley was born in a bin

He always lets the Quaffle in

Weasley will make sure we win

Weasley is our King."

Lee begun commentating again, and everyone put their attention back onto the game. Hermione could hardly notice anything else going on, anything except for Ron. He was flailing around, making it obvious that the song was getting to him. Finally, the Quaffle passed him and the Slytherin's roared in delight.

"Slytherin's score!" Lee's voice rang through the crowds. "So, that's ten-nil to Slytherin-bad luck, Ron."

Hermione wanted to bang her head against the bleachers as the Slytherins sang even louder, it was the only thing she could hear now. She wanted to yell at them to all hush, but Hermione knew it wouldn't help.

Back in the pitch, Harry was stationary in the air, watching Ron. Angelina finally yelled at him to get back in the game and he circled the entire pitch with Draco following him in the opposite direction.

Ron was still desperately trying to save the Quaffle from going in, but it passed through, earning the Slytherins ten more points. Hermione wished to help her friend, but she knew that it was all out of her hands.

She took another glance to the roaring Slytherin stands to see Pansy Parkinson conducting the Slytherin supporters into singing:

"THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING

WEASLEY IS OUR KING."

After that, Ron somehow let in two more goals, and the Slytherins were beating the Gryffindors by forty points. Luckily, Angelina scored, bringing the Gryffindors up ten.

Luna's lion had roared among the Slytherins singing, adding more to the chaotic chanting. She wished that Harry would already find the snitch and end the game; Ron had only grown worse and the screaming was driving everyone mad.

Just as Hermione thought that, Harry dived. He was going to get the snitch, Draco fast in pursuit; they raced to get the shiny, golden object, but Malfoy had managed to get in front of Harry.

Harry flew to get neck and neck with Draco, and both of them rounded up to the snitch. Hermione seen the two hitting the other's hand out of the way until finally, Harry had saved Ron from further failing, and caught the snitch.

Hermione let out a breath of relief.

The Slytherins abruptly stopped singing and were replaced with the happy screams of all who supported the Gryffindors. Luna's hat still ferociously roared into the air as Harry raised his hand with that arrogant smirk playing on his lips. It was over; the madness was finally over.

Hermione stood up and rushed to the stairs leading down onto the pitch. It was dimly lit by lanterns, and everything around her glowed orange; it was also much warmer on the stairs, now that the wind was blocked from coming through.

As she bounded downwards, Hermione heard a change of tone above her. They were all yelling angrily and cursing into the air; something bad had happened. A blow from a whistle mad Hermione rush to get down.

The sunlight hit Hermione hard as she ran out onto the Quidditch Pitch. The teams were quickly landing on the cold ground, all surrounding Harry and someone else, someone she couldn't see because of Goyle standing in her view.

Hermione pushed her way pass the crowd to see Draco yelling at Harry.

"-to write another couple of verses!" Draco was angry, and let everything out by continuing to taunt, "But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly-we wanted to sing about his mother, see-"

Hermione noticed Angelina talking to Harry in murmurs as they stared at Malfoy.

"-we couldn't fit in useless loser either-for his father, you know-"

Hermione had enough of hearing Draco belittle the Weasley's; and apparently, Fred and George felt the same, once they finally paid attention to Malfoy's yelling. Fred lunged at him, but Angelina grabbed Fred by the arms to refrain him.

"Leave it!" she yelled into his ear. "Leave it, Fred, let him yell, he's just sore he lost, the jumped up little-"

Her words were cut short, and instead replaced by Draco sneering out, "-but you like the Weasleys, don't you, Potter? Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, when you've been dragged up by Muggles-"

Hermione stopped listening to him after that, she didn't want to know what Draco had to say about Muggles. Harry's aunt and her family weren't exactly good representatives for them, but that didn't mean that they were all like that, especially Hermione's parents.

Harry alone was able to refrain George, but the three Gryffindor Keepers were needed to keep Fred from getting at Malfoy. Hermione wished they'd all let go of the twins; Draco deserved to get beaten up by them.

"Or perhaps," Draco said, "you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it-"

Not a second later, Harry had released George and the both of them were on top of Malfoy, throwing punches into him over and over and over. Fred was angry and shouting for the girls to let him go, while they held on even tighter and yelled for George and Harry to back off.

Below them was Malfoy, trying to shove them off along with George's curses that spewed into Draco's face. Everyone seemed to be cheering on the two Gryffindors while the Slytherins screamed for Draco to get them off of him, instead of yelling various phrases that sounded like:

"My father is-" (that one was never finished)

"Get them off of me!"

"Stupid Potter!"

"Stupid Weasel!"

It was actually quite the sight, but ended very quickly once Madam Hooch had blown her whistle and shouted an Impediment Jinx; Harry and George both went flying off the now bloodied boy. She made Harry and George leave and go to Professor McGonagall's office; in which they slowly trudged off of the pitch and back towards the castle.

Hermione rushed over to Draco; he was lying on the hard ground with his hands covering his face as blood seeped through his fingers. Everyone could see her-teachers included-so, she had to act carefully.

Hermione held out her hand to him and ignored the murmurs that followed. He noticed her standing over him, and let out bit of a smile; his teeth were turned red, which ruined his kind look completely.

Keeping one hand on his probably broken nose, Draco used the other to take Hermione's offer of helping him to his feet. The way Draco looked at her, Hermione knew he thought that she was on his side, that the were friends now.

He was wrong.

Hermione drowned out the sounds of everyone trying to gain Draco's attention. Instead, she grabbed his shirt and yanked Draco towards her, then wrapped her arms around his body to pull him into a tight embrace. It wasn't a friendly one, no, Hermione dug her fingers into the skin on his back; hard enough to hear a painful grunt come from him.

"I could never befriend someone like you." She leaned up to Draco's ear, just as he had done to her in the library, and quietly sneered, "You say you want to be friends with me, yet, you refuse to treat the ones I care for with any respect-instead you've wasted all of your time belittling them. And that thing you said about Muggles? I don't think that I even have to explain."

Hermione placed a sickeningly sweet peck just below Draco's ear.

"You're a smart boy; you know what I want, now."

Hermione felt Draco get pulled away from her, and looked up to see Madam Hooch dragging him towards Hogwarts. Draco turned around to have his eyes met with hers once more, and she felt herself smirk; Hermione was glad to see the worried look on his face, the look that only meant one thing.

Draco understood her threat.


	6. V Picture Perfect

Hermione hadn't seen Draco since the Quidditch game-other than in Care for Magical Creatures-and she was perfectly fine with that. Actually, she got the feeling that he'd been avoiding her; Draco would always leave the room if she was in it, and he even managed to get out of Potions class, most likely pretending to be sick.

That was what Hermione wanted, though, and she was glad that he understood. She never came out and told him to leave her alone, but she did infer it; good thing Draco was smart.

Harry and the Weasley twins earned a severe punishment for attacking Draco-not that he hadn't deserved it. When the three finally came back to Gryffindor Tower, they all yelled and stampeded around about how vile and inhuman Umbridge was, until Dean Thomas finally asked them what happened. The entire room had been in shock once Fred announced that the trio had been banned from Quidditch for the rest of their lives.

Angelina was fumed, but still managed to throw together a new team; with Ginny Weasley as the seeker. Ginny wasn't horrible at it; actually she was quite good, but no-one could surpass Harry's seeking skills for the game. Some other Gryffindor's that Hermione barely knew replaced the twins as beaters. They weren't as talented as Ginny, who used to practice late at night with her brother's broom.

"So, tell me, Granger," said a voice from behind her.

Hermione swerved around, meeting a sixth year face-to-face. There was an array of freckles covering his cheeks, that looked more like dirt to Hermione; she felt the need to wipe it off with her thumb, but refrained from doing so since they were merely freckles. The boy reminded her of Ron, they had the same build and posture, but his hair was dusty blonde instead of red.

Hermione asked him, "Tell you what, Leyon?"

"Is it true that your lips are the same color as your nipples?"

As soon as it had registered to Hermione what Leyon said to her, he was already walking back to his friends with an arrogant laugh escaping from him.

 _That was very peculiar_ , Hermione thought to herself.

She had never thought someone would ask her that; it must've been some sort of joke, a game of sorts. Whatever that had been about, it was odd. Why would he care to know what color her nipples were-which weren't the same hue as her lips, no, those were far too red-and why had he worded it as if someone told him that? Hermione had never showed anyone her nude body.

As she continued to walk through the halls, Hermione could hear people whispering around her acting like she couldn't hear them.

"It's her."

"You think she wanted him to take it?"

"Glad to know that _she'll_ never steal my boyfriend."

"Wasn't she just messing around with Malfoy? I saw her kiss him at the game."

"I bet she's shagging them both."

"Probably Ron and Harry, too."

Hermione wanted out. She needed to get out of the hallways as soon as she could, the gossiping was driving her mad and she didn't even know what it was about. So, with her arms crossed over her chest, Hermione quickly brushed pass everyone into the Great Hall.

It was over, everyone in there had been eating and talking among themselves about stupid things, and not about Hermione. She relaxed as soon as Harry and Ron began waving at her, coaxing Hermione to sit with them at their usual spot at the table. Perhaps they would know what was going on.

Hermione took a seat beside Harry, who scooted over a bit for her. As she slowly ate off her plate, Hermione listened to her boys' conversation about Quidditch Practice with the new team.

"-and she was so furious, but gotta give the girl props for refraining from hitting Angelina," said Ron.

"Speaking of fighting," began Harry, "Malfoy hasn't said anything to me since."

Ron laughed and said, "Good, that little twat needs to be put in-."

"Guys, do you know why everyone has been whispering about me?" Hermione suddenly interrupted.

Ron and Harry shared a look before fighting about which one would have to tell her the truth. What could be so bad that her friends didn't want to say it? Harry threatened to tell Molly that Ron was the one who had eaten her slice of cake (even though he hadn't known it was hers) and Ron finally caved in.

"Well you see, Hermione," he said quietly. "There's a rumor going around-of you."

"What rumor?" she asked him.

Ron hesitated, but still told her, "Everyone thinks you shagged some sixth year."

Hermione shook her head and said, "That's stupid, I'm only fifteen and you know I would never do that."

She watched Ron let out a breath of relief before saying, "We never thought you would."

"The stories I've heard from people are really far-fetched," Harry mentioned with a fit of laughter. "Someone told me that you were sleeping with Malfoy, too. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah, I heard that you were full on snogging him after the Quidditch match! You-and-Malfoy? Ha!" Ron said before joining Harry along for a good chuckle.

Hermione blushed a bit once she heard the last part. It was understandable why everyone had gotten the idea of her and Draco being together; even if it was just a peck below his ear-that wasn't even real. She was just messing with his mind, letting him know to back off. To other people, it must've looked like they cared for one another. How it turned into them making-out on the field was beyond her.

"I have a confession."

Harry and Ron's laughter died down, but their smiles still stayed in place. She wasn't sure how they would react about what had really happened on that field; it could either upset them or they'd begin laughing again and pat her on the back for getting at Malfoy.

"A bit of that last talk is actually kind of true," she told them, "but everyone told it from their perspective."

The grind were wiped off of the boys' faces and instead replaced with frowns.

Harry grabbed Hermione by the shoulder and yelled, "Are you saying that you snogged Malfoy?"

She yanked Harry's hand away and said, "Of course not; I have never-and will never-kiss Draco on the lips. However, I did do to him as he had done to me in the library."

"Ew."

"Just listen, would you?" Hermione snapped. "After you and George left, I pulled Draco up from the ground. I though about yelling and hexing him, but there were teachers everywhere and I was not about to get detention. Instead, I hugged him and whispered into his ear how upset I was at him for bullying you guys and that I wasn't ever going to friends with someone like him. That was when I kissed him on his neck; it was a threat that only he understood. Everyone else seen it as an act of love."

"Did you really have to kiss him, though?" Ron groaned out.

Hermione firmly nodded her head and replied, "I think it got the point across better."

The trio continued eating their food and talking quietly to themselves. The subject before was put in the past-mostly due to the fact that Hermione and Draco wasn't a desirable topic-and replaced with murmurs about Umbridge.

The horrible Ministry woman had been putting Harry and detention several times a week, for the most ignorant of things. Harry usual came back late at night with bloody bandages wrapped around his hand and pleas from Hermione to inform Dumbledore. He never would.

That topic was quickly interrupted, Pansy Parkinson had walked over to them with twi other Slytherin girls, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Pansy had a photograph in her hand and threw it onto the table.

Ron snatched it up and stared at the photo with wide eyes while Harry and Hermione tried to lean across the table to get a peak. Ron kept flicking his eyes at Hermione before Harry grabbed it from him. The look Harry gave her made Hermione's stomach turn queasy. She felt like she was going to puke.

It was a photo taken of Hermione; a horrible one at that. Her usually frizzy hair was soaking wet and falling into her closed eyes; she'd just gotten out of the bubbly prefects bath. While some of her hair had been in her face, the rest was being dried out with a towel. The shiny water was still dripping off of her naked skin. Hermione didn't care about that, though; no, the worse part was the visibility of her breasts and nude figure. Hermione had no clothes on yet, and apparently someone had taken advantage of that. Luckily, Hermione was standing in an odd angle, so the photographer had been unable to catch her lady bits.

Hermione could feel her heart in her throat, beating fast enough to win a marathon. How had she never noticed the person? Whoever it was passing around these pictures must have told everyone that Hermione had let them take it; that would explain the rumor of her sleeping around with someone.

"Who would've thought little Miss Mud-blood here would be so naughty, acting like a witch from Play-Wizard?" Pansy cackled loudly with her pug-nose crinkling up. "Poor Draco is going to be _so_ hurt when he finds out you've been playing him."

Hermione wanted to tell Pansy that her and Draco couldn't stand each other, but nothing came out. Well, not words. Instead, everything Hermione had just eaten splattered onto the floor in front of her and all over Pansy's shoes.

Hermione let out a squeak before turning on her heel to run out of the Great Hall with Pansy screeching behind her and everyone's eyes following the scene.

* * *

Harry was shocked.

That photo was something completely unknown to him; no-one said anything about it, so how was he supposed to have warned Hermione about it previously? None of this was his fault, but Harry still wanted to fix it. Hermione was so good to him.

He turned around and grabbed a flailing Pansy by her collar.

"Where did you get that?" Harry yelled with anger.

Pansy replied, "Some girl showed me it; I didn't even know who she was!"

Harry pushed Parkinson away from him-who continued to freak out about Hermione's puke-and grabbed Ron by the arm.

"C'mon, let's find her," he muttered to Ron.

Before the two left, Harry grabbed the photo, pulled out his wand, and used the Incendio Charm on it. Burning up in flames, the picture soon turned into ashes that littered the floor.

Harry stepped out of the Great Room and caught a group of students talking quietly to their selves. After getting their attention, Harry asked if they saw which way Hermione had gone, in which one of them pointed further into castle. All of the students they passed were questioned of Hermione's whereabouts until they were finally directed to a very familiar hall.

One of the doors was something that the three of them became very acquainted with during their second year at Hogwarts. It was large and brown; the knob was a bit hard to turn since it had rusted from never being used. That didn't stop the two from barging in there.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Moaning Myrtle was now standing in front of Harry and Ron, looking angry as ever. She started to shoo them away with her hands, but they only passed through the boys, making them shiver from the dead coldness of her.

"Stop it, Myrtle," Harry commanded. "We're her friends."

"Right..." Myrtle mumbled before sitting on top of one of the stalls. "I haven't seen you in a while, Harry Potter? Thought you were gonna come visit me some."

"Er... I've been busy Myrtle. I'm sorry."

Myrtle then said, "Doesn't matter much, some other girl likes to come visit me. Though, she doesn't stay long."

One of the doors opened and Hermione popped out in front of them. Harry wasn't going to tell her this, but Hermione looked horrid; her eyes were bloodshot and puffy while a load of tears had dried on her cheeks. The bangs of her hair clung to the wet spots and Harry resisted from pulling the strands off of her skin.

Never had Harry really dealt with upset girls; Aunt Petunia never cried in front of him, nor had any of his friends. The closest Harry had been to someone in that much distress was when Hermione stayed in the girls' bathroom after Ron had insulted her in first year. Not even then were they there to comfort her (they did happen to make it in time to save her from a troll, though).

Harry never had time to notice Hermione step over to him; however he did feel her wrap her arms around him and place her head in the crook of his neck. Harry was tense, but he just embraced her shaking body. Though, the hem of his shirt grew damp, Harry made no effort to address it.

Ron stood awkwardly in the corner, playing with his feet until he said, "Parkinson is just jealous 'cause she thinks you and (Ron fake gagged) Malfoy are an item."

"I couldn't care less about Pansy, right now," Hermione sniffed. "What I _do_ care about is the fact that my breasts are going around the school."

"Well, maybe you should tell Professor McGonagall or-"

"No!" Hermione cut in. "That would be so embarrassing. 'Hey Miss McGonagall, would you care to look at this picture of me naked and then go find the culprit? Thanks.' Oh Merlin, no."

Harry said, "Okay fine, that wasn't my best idea ever."

"Yeah, you're one to talk, Harry. You won't even tell Dumbledore about your hand," Ron told him.

Harry rolled his eyes and replied, "I get it, Ron; you're upset about it, but I'm still not going to let that witch win."

The three of them remained in that bathroom until dinner-thankful that it was a Saturday. Hermione had stopped sniffling about the incident long before nighttime, though they enjoyed their time together just talking about the fun memories made together or about their school work; none of them brought up anything stressful.

* * *

The next day had been no better for Hermione; the whispers continued along with snide remarks and catcalls. Someone was either gossiping behind her, insulting her, or hitting on her. Everyone thought she was easy, now. Hermione knew she wasn't, and so did her true friends, so Hermione chose to ignore her peers.

One boy had been brave enough to smack her bottom as his friends cheered him on in a wave of hooting and hollering. The guys soon stopped talking once Hermione had the brave one dangling in the air by his feet with a charm she'd read in a book.

The day went by slowly for Hermione after decided to spend most of it in the library studying. That was the best way to avoid everyone; Hermione hardly ever got distracted in the library by one of the students, that was, unless they enjoyed reading, too. The type that liked education were also very intelligent and minded their own business. That meant Hermione was bound to have peace.

Two multi-chaptered books later about the effects of calming ingredients, the sky outside had grown dark, which reminded Hermione that it was time for dinner. Her growling stomach thanked her for leaving.

On her way to the Great Hall, Hermione once again passed a group of students whispering; the only difference between them and the rest was that these were huddled together in a circle instead of staring at Hermione.

"-would shag her, she's hot. Bet, she'd let me, too; I mean, she slept with those two guys and I bet they are nothing compared to me."

Hermione coughed very loudly, and silently reprehended herself for acting like Umbridge. None of them even flinched.

"Excuse me," Hermione said loudly, finally gaining their attention, "As good as I am _sure_ you are in bed, I'm going to have to decline (most of the boys cackled as their friend turned red and grumbled to himself). Now, where did you get this?"

Hermione yanked the photo away from one of the boys and examined it; that was exactly what she'd assumed it had been. They began to protest at her for taking it, but soon stopped once she raised her wand up at the group, who slowly backed away from her.

"Answer me," she demanded.

A blonde one raised his hands up in the air and said, "Okay, fine. Hendren Fillock is selling them to anyone with five galleons."

Hermione knew who Hendren was. The sixth years were disgraced with the presence of Fillock's greasy brown head; he was not a very popular person, perverted, but not popular. Her and Hendren met once, in which his eyes had never actually looked at her face.

"Thank you."

Hermione turned around and used the same charm Harry had told her about, burning away any nudity that could have been seen by anyone else. Groaning was heard behind her as the group of friends realized they had just wasted five galleons.

Harry and Ron met up with her outside of the Great Hall and they took their seats with some other Gryffindors such as Neville and Ron's siblings; Ginny, Fred, and George. None of them made any moves to judge her about the recent misfortune, and Hermione was thankful for friends like them.

Luna Lovegood eventually made her way over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Neville. The two had been rather chummy lately, Hermione noticed; she suspected Luna and Neville had feelings for the other. Hermione felt herself smile as they talked to each other.

Hermione took this time to announce the conversation she had just before finding them. There were some words in agreement about how creepy Fillock was, and brought up various topics about him. Fred mentioned that he once asked Carrey Bulgons to perform some dirty acts with him-in which the girl rejected immediately.

"Looks like you're in luck, Hermione," said George. "Fillock seems to be chatting up some Hufflepuffs."

"Hey, Fillock!" the other twin yelled.

Hendren turned around and searched for the source of his name. His eyes finally landed on the Weasley twins and he smiled at them, then rose to his feet and walked over to see what they wanted.

"Hey there, our good ole buddy!" George patted him on the back.

Fred pulled Hendren down between them, saying, "Sit with us for minute, why don't 'chu?"

Hermione watched the display in front of her, anxious to find out what was about to happen; Hendren still hadn't spotted her, so she knew he must have been just as curious as she.

"So, what'd you want?"

"May I borrow this?" asked Fred as he held Hendren's camera that was tied to a string around his neck.

Fillock nodded in response.

Fred yanked the camera away and pointed his wand at it, so, George told Fillock, "Give me them."

"Give you what?"

"The photos," responded George.

Hendren through his head back in laughter and said, "Do you really think I keep them on me? Idiots."

"Then where are they? Surely, _I_ have a right to know," Hermione finally interjected.

Hendren whipped his head around, eyes as large as Hagrid. Hermione smirked at his attempt in trying to stand up, only to have the twins drag him back down in a swift shove on his shoulders; good thing that Fillock was a scrawny boy.

"Don't make me repeat myself; I said-"

"I heard you the first time, Hermione," Fillock snapped. "And I'm not going to tell you, either."

Hermione took out her wand and pointed the tip at Hendren, in which he just smacked it away from her hand.

"None of you are going to do anything; not with Umbridge sitting right up there."

No matter how much Hermione hated it, Fillock was right; there was no way she could threaten him without getting detention-or worse, expelled. Putting her wand back into the pocket of her, Hermione waved Hendren off, but the twins stopped him once more.

"Y'know, we aren't really afraid of Umbridge, are we, Fred?"

"Right you are, George."

Not a moment later, George yelled down the table, "Hey, Jordan!"

Lee Jordan turned to look at his friends, but was distracted by the camera flying at his face. Luckily, Jordan caught the object before silently questioning the twins; they simply gestured for him to toss it to someone else, in which Jordan nodded and threw it further down the table. Various Gryffindors tossed it around-Fillock was yelling loudly, clambering onto the table trying to catch his camera-until one of them slipped and dropped the camera, which broke into several pieces.

Professor McGonagall told the Gryffindor table to stop being so ridiculous and helped Hendren pick up what was left of his camera. The two left the Great Hall quickly.

"Sorry!" the twins yelled in unison, while Fillock just looked over his shoulder to glare at them.


	7. VI Favors of an Enemy

Draco wasn't very pleased when Potions class came back around. Last time, he had managed to avoid Hermione by telling Snape he felt sick and begged to go to Madam Pomfrey's. Of course, Snape gave him permission, but Madam Pomfrey never seen Draco that day.

Sickness couldn't be faked today-although, he wished he had one of those Skiving Snackboxes invented by the stupid Weasley twins. But, Draco was _not_ going to buy something from them. Imagine the snickers they'd share as a broken-nosed Draco came up to them offering his galleons; the duo would probably snatch his coins and then kick him to the side-with no Nosebleed Nuget.

Draco was the last student to enter Snape's classroom. Everyone else was chattering quietly-some even stopped talking when Draco opened the door, thinking that it had been Professor Snape, but quickly resumed their conversations. Most were gossiping about Umbridge or something irrelevant.

Hermione was already in her seat, and Draco tried his best to not look at her; he was doing a good job at it, too. That was, until Pansy came to their table. He gave Pansy a smile, she must've been coming over to talk to him; not like her and Hermione were going to have a good chat about what color to paint their nails.

"Draco, do you have your work for Flitwick?" she asked him.

Draco nodded and said, "Yeah, why?"

"Can I copy it? I forgot to do mine."

"Sure, Pans. Just make sure to change it a bit, y'know, so he doesn't suspect anything," Draco told Pansy as he got a piece of parchment out from his bag and handed it to her.

Draco thought Pansy was going to scamper away now, but she didn't. No, instead, Pansy turned to Hermione with her eyebrows lowered nearly into her eyes.

"By the way," she sneered, "those shoes that you decided to just puke all over? I had to throw them away. So, thanks a lot, you filthy chav."

Draco finally took a glace to Hermione. It seemed as if what Pansy said never even registered to her; her nose was in a book like always and her eyes never left the page. Perhaps Hermione never actually heard what Pansy said.

So, Hermione threw up on Pansy? Why no-one mentioned it to Draco was something he had trouble fathoming-he was the most important person in this school and not even one of his friends told him this story. Actually, _Pansy_ herself was his friend.

"Pansy-Pansy-wait," he called after her. "Now, what?"

''What are you talking about?"she asked.

He said, "No-one told me about your shoes."

"Oh... I showed Granger that picture of her going around-I think it's disgusting, if you ask me-and the daft cow got sick all over me." Pansy then dramatically said, "Oh Draco, it was absolutely horrid."

It wasn't his fault what happened next; Draco was human, and to be fair, the whole situation sounded very amusing. Of course he laughed. So, Pansy hitting him in the chest and strutting away was a bit of an over-exaggeration.

Draco rubbed the spot she'd smacked him and muttered, "Geez, lighten up some."

"You're sort of weak, aren't you?" asked a snickering voice beside him.

An avalanche of insults were threatening to fall from his tongue, but Professor Snape walked into his classroom with a threatening wave of his hand; something that everyone knew, meaning that they had better quieten down or face his wrath. The number of things Snape could do were unknown, but nonetheless frightening.

"I apologize for being late, class," he announced. "Peeves has flooded the restrooms again."

The class started as usual, with Professor Snape gave the assignment of studying the effects of Gillyweed. Draco noticed Potter had never looked flipped to page two hundred forty-seven, yet somehow managed to write notes on his parchment. Perhaps Potter had finally learned something.

Draco began copying his own notes down-turned out that Gillyweed can be used to breathe under water. He joked to himself how the staff should probably hand it out to students since Peeves keeps 'accidentally' leaving the faucets running. _All_ of them.

In the corner of Draco's eye, he noticed a flash of movement under the table. Taking a quick glance to the left, Draco could only see Hermione scribbling with her quill, normal as always. He just shook his head and looked away once more.

Not long after, Draco could _hear_ rustling beside him. He took another look towards Hermione and nearly sputtered. Gasrik Glockery-the Slytherin boy to Hermione's left-had his hand on Hermione's thigh. Or Draco thought that was what he'd seen, for Gasrik had certainly moved it very fast, fast enough that Draco thought otherwise and went back to work.

It was until he heard Hermione basically growl, that he'd realized his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"Stop it."

Gasrik never gave up though; instead Draco noticed the fellow snake lean real close to her, up to her ear, and whispered words unknown to Draco.

The scene before him was recognizable. Draco didn't know where he had seen it before, it wasn't every day that your classmate tried to seduce another with Snape's eyes not too far. Very brave, if you asked Draco. Not that it was respectable.

Then it hit him. Draco knew where he'd seen that before; well, he hadn't _seen_ it, Draco performed it. To the same girl. Sure, he never had the intentions of anything too sexual with Granger; no, that would be disgusting. But, Draco had indeed tried to manipulate her with enticing wordplay to the ear.

If he had to be honest, it was unpleasant sitting there with Granger trying to force Glockery away, his fingers creeping into her skirt before being smacked. It was pitiful, really.

What did it even matter to him if Hermione got manhandled beside him-other than the repugnance of it all. Draco loathed the girl, and she made it very obvious she felt the same with her witty comebacks and sneers. He should just be snickering to the side.

But, would that make Draco any better than Gasrik? Morally, of course. The two of them didn't have the same reasons for handling Hermione like that, but nonetheless they both _did_ it. Both were guilty for treating her like a play-thing; Draco would be even worse for allowing it to happen again. If it had been Pansy or Daphne, he'd have said something.

Draco wasn't sure if what he did next was because him and Gasrik being on the same level would be horrendous, or if maybe he actually felt bad for her, but he wasn't going to care about the _why_ of it. No, he didn't need a reason to mutter the Flipendo Jinx on Gasrik.

Gasrik hit the back of his chair and it tipped backwards. Draco snickered as Gasrik clambered off of the floor and began yelling towards Professor Snape, who had barely acknowledged the boy.

"Professor! Are you not going to do anything about Draco jinxing me?"

Snape continued to read a parchment as he said, "Boy, do not blame one of your classmates because you cannot sit in your seat properly."

"But I didn't-"

Professor Snape cut him off quickly with, "Do not talk back to your Professor. Now, sit down."

"Yes, sir," he muttered before fixing his chair.

Hermione never said anything to Draco for the rest of that class period; he kind of hoped she would praise him, Draco doesn't usually do good deeds. Of course, Hermione probably wasn't going to talk to him, though, not after she made clear her hatred towards him.

Everyone had been dismissed and Draco was going to to the Slytherin Common Room for their break, but he was abruptly stopped outside of the door.

"Draco," he heard Hermione call. "We definitely aren't friends, but you're the first person outside of my group to not brush me off as an easy slag. At least not since Fillock spread that picture of me. So, thank you."

"What picture?" he asked, everything else she said left forgotten. "The one Pansy mentioned earlier?"

"You mean you don't know?" she asked.

He shook his head and said, "No."

"I figured you did, everyone else does."

"Well, are you going to tell me or not?" Draco demanded.

Hermione said, "Hendren Fillock took a photograph of me after I had gotten out of the bath, and had made a profit selling it to students. Of course Fred and George broke his camera and..."

Hermione continued to babble on and on, but Draco stopped listening. If something like that was going around, surely someone would have mentioned it to him, right? Why were none of his friends telling him anything anymore? Draco was going to have a word with some of them. He then thought of the idea of a naked Granger and shuttered, realizing how glad he was to not have that scene previously implanted into his head.

"As much grief I'm _sure_ most of that caused you, I have somewhere important to be," he told her.

She nodded and said, "Right. Not entirely sure why I was even ranting to you; probably because we already hate each other, so nothing would effect you."

Draco and Hermione parted from one another, Draco claiming a smile on his face once he turned from her. No matter how annoying she is to talk around, she did help produce amazing ideas.

Draco now had a new plan forming in his head.

* * *

Viktor Krum was a man of many things-professional Quidditch Player, top student at Durmstrang, and a catch with the ladies. But, one of them managed to get out of his luring aura.

Hermione may have had feelings for Krum no less than a year ago, but they left on that ship along with Viktor at the end of fourth year. Friends was still an option-though, Hermione was positive he hadn't entirely realized it yet. Especially now that she'd received yet _another_ letter from her past wooer.

But, just like always, Hermione smiled and took the letter from Hermes, patting the bird lightly on his head before he perched himself onto the window. Hermes they let out a few hoots into the night. Groaning and rolling over, Lavender shushed the bird and once again, began snoring.

Hermione ignored her annoying dorm-mate and unsealed the parchment, which read:

 _December 2, 1995_

 _Hermione,_

 _How have you been doing? I'm so sorry about the students at your school, it is very disappointing that they would let such a picture get around like that. And then manage to bother you for it! You would've had a much better time at Durmstrang. Trust me._

 _So, that Malfoy boy jinxed some pervert for you? I thought you two hated each other. Or, at least, I remember you writing to me about that and how you two were paired together for a project. Perhaps, he's gained a bit of a crush on you? I don't know much about how your time with him has been, so I could very much be wrong. If I am not, however, I think you should be careful around him; I met Malfoy last year and he didn't seem to be a very good-hearted person. There are people who are much better for you._

 _My team had a game against the Hollyhead Harpies a few days ago (that's why it took me a bit to respond) and fortunately, we beat them by twenty-three points! The team is finally shaping up a lot better since the loss at the tournament a year ago. You should come to one of the games with me some time. I could get you tickets, you know._

 _Actually, I was wondering if you would like to come stay with me over Christmas. It doesn't have to be the whole break, you could go home whenever you would choose to. Unless, of course, you wanted to stay longer. My folks would be glad to have you around._

 _That's most of what I have to say, so I'll 1let you go, now. Please write back soon._

 _Viktor_

Letters from him were nice, but he always implied a bit too much on his feelings towards her; that, unfortunately for him, she didn't reciprocate. Surely, Viktor wold soon get over his crush.

Hermione did just as she had the first time one of his letter's came to Hogwarts; she closed her curtains and cast the lumos charm, with her parchment and quill, ready to write back. She finished very quickly and tied to letter to Hermes, along with a gift, that actually had a journal in the wrapping. It wasn't just any normal journal. Hermione had made that very clear to her pen pal.

 _December 2, 1995_

 _Viktor,_

 _Though, I would very much enjoy paying you a visit, I mustn't. There are things I cannot discuss in this letter, but they are very important and I'm afraid I can't visit you because of said reasons. Maybe next year or in the summer?_

 _As I am sure you have already noticed, I sent you a gift. Consider it an early Christmas present from me. I know it looks like an ordinary, boring journal, but it is so much more than that, I promise you._

 _It's been quite troublesome for us to write to one another (with your Quidditch and my studies), so I have come up with better solution. You see, your book has a twin; which is resting on my nightstand as of now. Whenever you write in your book, mine will heat up as the message appears in it, and vice versa._

 _Onto another subject, I think you are quite wrong about Malfoy having feelings for me. No, he hates me. I didn't really tell you the whole story, but now would be a good time to explain a bit of it._

 _I have this secret that Draco is absolutely dying to know. Many things he has done, as attempt to get me to reveal everything, but I have yet to do so. At first he tried to trick me into saying what he wanted, but luckily, I figured out what he was doing quick enough to stop him._

 _After that, the git pretended as if he was my friend-getting me gifts, ambushing me with compliments, and a bunch of other stupid stuff. Harry, Ron, and I knew what he was up to, so his facade never worked. I just let him continue trying, though; that was up until he harassed my friends in front of me. After a quick threat, he backed off._

 _I'm not really sure why he would stop Gasrik from violating me; though, I would assume for the same reason. Kind of odd, I have to admit. I was so sure that Draco had stopped everything all together. Perhaps I was wrong._

 _I'm sure you're bored with hearing me rant on about my life, so I think I'll end it here._

 _Hermione_

* * *

Draco wanted to drown himself in the black lake. That oaf, Hagrid, had finally come back from _wherever_ , and felt the need to make them write. You heard right; the very teacher who never made them pull out a quill, was forcing them to scribble down everything they had learned in his absence.

Much to Draco's pleasure, Hagrid sat them all outside by the lake to work on their assignment. It was a bit hard, since their were no desks, but Draco followed along with his peers and pulled out a book to set his parchment on.

Parvati Patil had managed to cast a charm that levitated her paper. He had to admit that it was a brilliant idea, though it looked odd to see Patil writing on it as if it were a chalk board.

Draco managed to scribble down a list of animals they learned about previously. Once he finally finished, Ron and Harry's arguing became much apparent to Draco, and he couldn't help but to strain and listen.

"No, she can't come, she's a girl!" It was Ron who he heard whispering-not very quietly, though.

Harry asked him, "Since when has that ever mattered to you, Ron?"

"It-I-ugh, it doesn't matter to me, but I'm sure Dean and Seamus don't want her to do guy stuff with them."

"Are you saying that those two can't handle girls? I think we both know that the ladies fancy Dean," said Harry.

Draco could hear the slight judgement in Ron's voice as he muttered, "What about Seamus then, Harry?"

"Ron, you and I both know he's gay."

"Yeah, gay for Dean."

Draco let out the loudest burst of laughter for the first time in a while. Seamus, gay? Such a thought never occurred to him, but then why would it have? He was no different from the other Gryffindors; being gay wasn't like having a bad case of acne, it was more like preferring the color yellow when everyone else liked blue.

So, the insult on the tip of Draco's tongue wasn't because he thought being homosexual was weird; no, Seamus was a Gryffindor. And Draco hated those red and golden striped ties with a passion.

But, as Draco called out the boy's last name, Seamus' head wasn't the only one to turn and look at him. Beside Finnegin was the no-longer-buck-toothed girl he needed to meet up with for their project. She was staring at him with curiosity.

Draco swallowed down the insult as soon as he met her gaze; there was no way he could bully one of Hermione's friends right in front of her. They were friends, right? Hermione told him to stop messing with them, and he was going to actually listen to her.

Draco was very afraid of Hermione's wrath.

Rubbing the spot she had hit him in third-year with rememberence, Draco looked away and tried to distract himself. Crabbe and Goyle were still attempting to figure out how to write their assignment, while Blaise had taken up a conversation with Pansy and Tracey. Draco figured he should make his way over to them, but something was holding him back. One quick glance towards Granger reminded him of previous thought.

Draco took out a small piece of parchment and wrote:

 _Meet me in the library after dinner._

Crunching up the paper into a ball, Draco launched it at Hermione's back (of course, he made sure Hagrid wasn't looking) and waited for her to spin around, with the furious Granger-Glare. He locked his eyes with her brown ones. Words were forming on her lips-he could tell from how they kept opening-but he stopped her from saying anything by pointing to the projectile.

Curiosity must've peaked her interest for the second time that day, for she snatched up the crumpled paper and flattened it out on her knee. She then gave him a quick nod and he went back to daydreaming.

 _Smack._

Draco rubbed his forehead and looked down for whatever had hit him. Unsurprisingly, it was the same crumpled up parchment. He quickly unfolded it and read what was below his own words.

 _You're not the boss of me, by the way._

He snorted.

It wasn't much longer until Draco had already finished eating dinner in the Great Hall. He was the only one of his friends to stand up, the only one to wave them all off as they badgered him of his whereabouts. Draco Malfoy didn't have to answer to them, he answered to no-one. Okay, so _maybe_ his parents. And Voldemort.

With an overfilled satchel hung on his shoulders, Draco entered the library and looked around. Not much to his surprise, the book-obsessed Granger was already seated at a table in the back, her nose buried into yet another Potions book.

She never noticed him. Well at least, not until he tossed his expensive, green book bag in front of her with a loud thud. He watched her eye the little white corners poking through the top-Draco desperately wanted her to listen to the curious tempting in her head, to go through his things.

But, being the goody-two-shoes she was, Hermione simply went back to reading.

Draco huffed. "You can go through it."

"Why do you want me to look at your possessions?" asked Hermione.

He smirked at her and said, "I think some of them are _your_ possessions."

Not a moment later, Hermione unlatched to top and grabbed the first thing to fall out. More than a dozen of those items were still in his bag, but Hermione wasted no time pulling them out and checking each one, to see if they were indeed all the same-which Draco knew they were.

"So, you just wanted to taunt me some more? I thought it was odd that you suddenly wanted to work on the project, considering you've been advoiding me." Hermione sneered. "I don't even know why I told you abou-"

"Shut up."

Hermione stood up out of her chair and leered over Draco; her hair fell in front of her face, but she made no move to brush it away. Hermione had a scowl and Draco knew he should've chosen his wordplay a bit better.

"How dare-"

"Hermione," interrupted Draco, "I'm not making fun of you."

She asked, "And I believe that because...?"

"Those are all of the pictures Fillock made of you." He continued, "I 'forced' him to hand them over and to gather up all of the ones that had gotten out. It took a few days, but here they are, ready for your disposal."

Hermione had already reseated herself, she was much calmer now. Draco watched as her eyebrows drew together and she seemed to be thinking hard on the subject. Of course _she_ would be the one to have suspicions.

Draco worked hard to get a hold of those. Almost a week had passed since Hermione first mentioned it to him; the whole time he worked his bum off to figure out who had bought one and then track said person down. Sure, his threat to Fillock helped (Hendren was now terrified that Draco was going to convince Lucius that he had been bothering his beloved son), but he only accomplished so much. And, Draco was not going to let Hermione eye him after all of that.

"It's the truth; stop looking at me like that."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

Draco said, "Because it's creeping me out?"

"No," said Hermione, "Why would you go through all of that trouble? It had nothing to do with you."

"You told me that you wanted me to be a better friend, didn't you? After the Quidditch game?"

She shook her head and told Draco, "Actually, I was wanting you to leave me alone."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for most of their remainder together, mutters of potions were the only sounds coming from either of them. Hermione had come up with a new ingredient to use, and Draco promised to see if Snape had any. It was actually peaceful for the two.

Everything was done for the day; it was late and curfew was in a few minutes. If Draco left now, he could make it to the dungeons just in time before a teacher could get him in detention. So, he packed up his things and stood up.

"Thank you, Draco."

Her voice was quiet, he knew that her pride had to have stung as she told him those three little words. Draco didn't feel the need to really respond to her; instead he gave a quick nod and turned to the door with a smirk playing on his lips.

Draco was sure he had gotten Hermione exactly where he wanted.


End file.
